✩ My 2014 Recap ✩

Hello all! 

2014 was an absolutely crazy year for me and I thought that today i'd do a super quick recap of everything that happened in my 2014!

✩ JANUARY ✩

Not that much happened throughout January and it was honestly quite a boring start to my year. The highlight of January was definitely meeting up with Emilie in my local town and spending the day shopping. From the day I particularly remember going into toys R us and trying on all the children's dressing up hats.

✩ FEBRUARY ✩

In February my highlight was going to the youtube meet up in Jubilee Gardens and made me realise how much I actually missed attending them. I got to meet up with a number of my youtube friends who I hadn't seen in about 6 months however this was the only meet up I went to in 2014 which I regret and I wish I went to more. In February I also knuckled down with all my school work in preparation for my GCSE's that I took in the summer. I remember particularly focusing on dance as I had a number of dance mocks throughout the month of February. 

✩ MARCH ✩

In march in finally turned 16 years old which meant I could officially begin working. Throughout March I applied to a number of vacancies however they proved to be unsuccessful so I decided to focus my energy on getting good grades and put job searching on hold.

✩ APRIL ✩

In April I attended The Vamps Teenage Cancer Trust Gig at the O2 Empire in Shepard's Bush. This was one of the biggest highlights of my 2014 and if you'd like to hear about it in much more detail click here to be directed to a video I made specifically about the event.

✩ MAY ✩

During May I officially began my study leave which technically meant i'd left school. I also had my leavers assembly which was emotional as it was the last time my whole year group would be sat in the same hall together. 

✩ JUNE ✩

During June I took most of my GCSE exams. This was an extremely stressful month for me however I got through it a whole load better than I expected I could. I also officially left school during this month which made me free to do whatever I wanted with my summer. During June I also had my prom. Prom was honestly one of the best nights of the year. I felt so beautiful and confident for the first time as I got out of the car with my friends and the crowd around us started cheering. I also went on holiday with Emily to Hastings in June. I got to take some lovely photos of the town and the sea that was so close to where we were staying. The views were also incredible and I had an amazing time! June was definitely my busiest month.

✩ JULY ✩

In July I took part in one of the most memorable and my absolute favourite thing during 2014. That memorable thing was of course NCS! If you ever get the opportunity to take part in NCS i'd definitely recommend taking it. Whilst on NCS I got to take part in a number of different activities that before I could only dream of taking part in. I built my confidence up so much throughout July which really helped me through the rest of 2014. 

✩ AUGUST ✩

In August I moved into our new (temporary) home. Through the rat of August I spent the time meeting up with friends and settling into my new home area. I also began applying for jobs again and managed to land some interviews. In August to celebrate my sisters birthday we also took a day trip to Brighton to do some shopping and visit the pier. 

✩ SEPTEMBER ✩

In september I started college and took Childcare, Media, Film Studies and Psychology. I am still taking all these subjects and am enjoying them a lot. I also landed myself a job which I am still currently working at! I was so happy to finally have my own weekend job which allowed me to earn my own little bit of money which I plan on going towards more experiences during 2015. 

✩ OCTOBER ✩

Not that much happened in October for me. The highlight was definitely having Courtney over on halloween where we went to a restaurant to mostly celebrate her birthday which was only a few days before. 

✩ NOVEMBER ✩

In November the event that particularly stood out to me was Abi's halloween party! It was the first halloween party i'd been to in years and it was such a good night. It was the first time I actually enjoyed halloween. 

✩ DECEMBER ✩

December obviously means CHRISTMAS! I had an amazing Christmas this year even though it was extremely different to those in the past. This christmas I decided to vlog christmas eve, christmas day and boxing day and uploaded the videos onto my main channel which became a big success! I also really enjoyed meeting up with Abi and going shopping with her in Guildford! 

Thank you for sticking with me throughout 2014 and here's to an amazing 2015! I hope you stick around for another year. 

x

♡ NCS - Week Two ♡

Hello all! 

I'm back again to tell you about my experience of week 2 on NCS. During week 2 you stay in university accommodation as well as studying 1/6 subject choices in the university. Of course I chose media so I was in my element video editing, filming and trying out a bunch of new equipment.  I can only tell you about the media side of the programme however there's also the choice of: Sport, Enterprise, Music, Drama & Photography.

During the first two days as a team we visited a local elderly home where we spoke & interviewed some of the residents as well as staff. It was great to hear all their positive stories about the home and how the home doesn't live up to the current awful stereotypes. We filmed the residents and some of the activities that they took part in to make a short promotional film for the home to use. On the second day we played carpet curling against the elderly residents which they won and seemed extremely proud of. 

On Tuesday evening (Day 2) we all took part in a talent show which our team were awful at! Our excuse was "we're the media, we're meant to be behind the camera not in front of it". After much debating we came up with the idea of 'aeronicks' where our team mate Nick lead an aerobics session. The talent show was a lot of fun even though we came last.

Wednesday (Day 3) was left for editing. We had a mad rush near the end to make sure everything would be ready for the showcase which was that evening. During the showcase family and friends came to see what each group had created. Each of our team members got up and said a few words before presenting our short films, this was more of a challenge for some than others. The showcase was a success and i'm so proud with how our short film turned out. 

On Thursday (Day 4) we left the media side of the programme behind us and it was time for us to come up with a campaign idea. We wanted to raise awareness of something and many ideas were thrown around before we came up with the idea of Depression and Anxiety. Many of our team members currently are or have suffered from these conditions so it was something we were all passionate about. The main aim of our campaign is to raise awareness and to make people suffering from these mental health issues not feel alone. As a team we decided to call our campaign 'Turn On The Light' and used the hashtag #comeoutthedarkness. We also created a Facebook page to raise awareness which you can check out here. We came up with the idea of having a tree, which we would make ourselves, and hanging lightbulbs onto it with the publics small fears/phobias that they're comfortable to share. 

On the Friday (Day 5) it was pitch day! This was the day that we'd pitch our idea to local MP's and they'd give us a budget to allow us to carry out our idea. We spent the morning writing out a script for our pitch, making sure we all had a part, and learning it off by heart. Pitching to the dragons was a very scary experience and so stressful! They asked us many questions that made us think and we were all so worried about saying the wrong thing. Once it was over we all came together as a wave and they told us how much they were willing to give each team. We were lucky enough to get the amount we asked for which was £80.

As we were staying in university halls it was left to us to cook for ourselves. This was interesting but luckily for us my group had a few that were experienced in the kitchen and they were able to help those that weren't so used to it. We all had our own room with an en suit which was like luxury compared to the previous week! During this week I feel like I learnt how to be more independent and learnt many life skills. 

Would you cope cooking for yourself for a whole week?

I hope you enjoyed this post. 

Jessica xo

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